You Can't Teach an Old Prince New Tricks
by ElectricInferno
Summary: Merlin manages to get himself and Arthur stuck in the early 21st century when a hunting trip goes terribly wrong. They are stuck there until the Doctor comes to save the day, but with the accuracy of the TARDIS it might still take them awhile to get home.
1. Chapter 1

**This is set between series 3 and 4 of Merlin and mid-series 6 of Doctor Who. I am going to have to bend history occasionally though considering some of the stuff they do on Merlin my alterations will be fairly minor. Also I am completely ignoring Battlefield (1989) on the Doctor who end for obvious reasons. I hope you like it. Please review!**

"I told you this was going to end badly."

"Shut up Merlin," Arthur ordered. He tightened his grip on the sword. He didn't want to admit it, even to himself, but Merlin was right. Why couldn't a hunting trip ever just end well? "Merlin, stay behind me!" he shouted as the bandits rushed them.

He dispatched two of the attackers in crashes of metal, but there were still dozens more left. He had never seen a group this large outside of Camelot before. He quickly turned his head and was surprised to see three bandits on the ground before Merlin.

Merlin turned halfway to look at him and his eyes widened several degrees. "Arthur, look out!"

Arthur never got a chance to heed the warning because he felt something very heavy hit his head and heard a loud crack.

…

When Arthur awoke he was in a very white room with Merlin's face directly above him.

"Oh thank goodness you are finally awake," Merlin said with a smile.

Arthur groaned, "What happened?"

"One of the bandits clubbed you over the head and then…" Merlin's smile faded and he got a weird look on his face.

"What is the matter Merlin?" The man looked as though he wanted to answer, but wasn't quite sure how to explain.

With another groan Arthur pulled himself into a sitting position and looked around the room. Everything was shiningly clean and generally very white. There were things all around him that he couldn't hope to identify made out of materials he had never seen before. The bed underneath his was very soft and had strange rails along the sides. There were strange tubes attached to his arm by some strange means and, scared of what they might be, he went to pull them out.

Merlin laid his hand across where the tubes were attached to Arthur's arm to prevent him from yanking them out.

Arthur looked at Merlin in surprise. The man seemed incredibly sad. "You should really leave those in," he said gently.

Arthur was panicking, but he tried to fight down his fear. "Am I dead?"

Merlin looked him in the eyes and seemed to consider what to say for a moment. "No, but you should be," he finally replied.

"What do you mean 'I should be,'" Arthur asked, still panicking.

Merlin didn't answer him. He stood up and walked around Arthur's bed towards the door. "Since you are finally awake I will go speak to Dr. Jones. Hopefully she will give you clearance to leave so that we can work on a way to get home." Merlin smiled sadly to himself as though he thought getting home was just wishful thinking. It scared Arthur more than he wanted to admit but through his fear, he noticed something about Merlin's words.

"Finally awake? How long was I unconscious for?"

Merlin smiled sadly again. "Three weeks." Arthur's jaw dropped. "Don't move and leave the tubes in," Merlin commanded before he walked out the door.

Arthur lay back down and tried to process what was going on. Merlin had somehow gotten them safely away from the bandits, he had been unconscious for three weeks, and he was in a room the likes of which he had never seen before. Merlin was also hiding something from him, but that was nothing new, it was just irritating.

Merlin reentered the room followed closely by a young woman in an impossibly white coat. "It is good to see that you are finally awake," the woman said with a smile. "Merlin and I were very worried about you."

Arthur made no response. He was far too confused to. The woman, Dr. Jones he assumed, walked over to his side and pulled a small metal rod out of one of her pockets. She held the rod so that it was pointed at his face and suddenly an incredibly bright light came out of the end of it. She shined the light into both his eyes and then the light disappeared. "You look just fine," she said, returning the rod to her pocket. "I will fill out the paperwork to have you discharged."

"Sorcery!" It was all Arthur could think to say.

Dr. Jones and Merlin shared a long glance before looking back at him. "Not sorcery, Arthur. It's science." Arthur frowned, he didn't understand. Dr. Jones sighed. "I had best let Merlin explain." She turned and walked to the door, but just before she left she turned back. "Good luck Merlin. You know where to find me if you need me."

"Thank you for everything, Martha," he said in return, smiling.

She nodded and left the room. Merlin turned back to meet Arthur's gaze.

"Explain," Arthur demanded.

"It's difficult to explain, and I doubt you will understand in any case."

"Try."

Merlin sighed and sat back down in the chair next to Arthur. "Fine, I'll explain, but that doesn't mean that you will understand."


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you to all those who read/alerted/favored/reviewed. There was a lot more of you than I thought there would be *jumps up and down in excitement* The Doctor will be making his appearance in chapter 3. I just needed to set the stage a little more first. Please review!**

"So what you are telling me is that we are in the future?" Arthur asked slowly.

"Yes, over a thousand years later than the time we live in." Merlin said with a smile, glad his master finally got it.

"So the place we are in now hasn't happened yet?"

"Not exactly," Merlin explained carefully, "In the timeline we normally move through, this hasn't happened yet, but in the timeline we are currently in our time is long since past."

Arthur threw his hands in the air in irritation. "What?"

Merlin sighed heavily. "Don't worry about it. You understand it enough for us to move on."

"So there was a sorcerer among the bandits who attacked us? That is how we ended up in the future?"

For some reason that Arthur couldn't fathom Merlin turned bright red at his words and muttered, "Something like that."

"Stop being such a girl, Merlin," Arthur said and threw his pillow at the man.

"I see our Prince is finally awake," said a voice from the door.

Both Merlin and Arthur turned to face who had spoken but it was Merlin who really reacted. "Sarah Jane!" he said, grinning from ear to ear. He leapt up and hugged her tightly. The older woman laughed in surprise.

Merlin released her and she held out a bag to him. "I brought what you asked for," she said.

"Oh, wonderful!" he said, taking the bag. He set it down on the foot of Arthur's bed and reached inside. He pulled out a strange piece of dark blue cloth. "Good. These should do very nicely," he said. He put the cloth back in the bag and picked it up again. "Now I can finally get out of these scrubs." He walked over to another door that led to a small room and went inside.

Once the door was closed Sarah Jane turned to Arthur. She held out her hand and hesitatingly he shook it. "I'm Sarah Jane Smith," she said. "It's a pleasure to meet you Arthur Pendragon."

"And you as well, I think. So you know what is going on?" Arthur asked cautiously.

"Oh yes," Sarah Jane said with a smile. "You'd be surprised how much experience I have with this sort of thing."

Arthur walked back into the room wearing something even stranger than before. "What on earth are you wearing Merlin?" Arthur asked.

"Same thing you will be soon enough," Merlin replied, throwing the bag at him. "Now get changed so we can be on our way. We already have enough people covering the cost of you being in here as it is."

Arthur stood up and went into the other room to dress. He pulled the clothes out of the bag and tried to get them on, half wishing that Merlin would come and help him.

…

Merlin had enough stress on his mind to not realize that Arthur would probably need help with the modern clothes since Arthur needed help dressing normally. "Thank you," he said, "the clothes fit perfectly."

"Your welcome," she said with another smile, "I also managed to get these for you." She handed him two thin plastic rectangles. Merlin turned them over to see pictures of himself on one and Arthur on the other. His name was listed as Emrys Ambrosius and Arthur's as Arthur Peterson. He couldn't help but chuckle at the names Sarah Jane had chosen.

"Let's just hope that you don't run into anyone who knows both Welsh and Latin or they will realize your first and last names are the same."

Merlin couldn't hide the discomfort he felt at being called Emrys. "Why couldn't you have kept my first name as Merlin."

At the very least Sarah Jane looked somewhat sympathetic. "Unfortunately Merlin is not exactly a normal name you run into. Moreover you would get some very suspicious looks when people realized that two men named Merlin and Arthur were traveling together. As you have learned, the legends about you are very widely known."

Merlin chuckled again. "Peterson, I wonder how he is going to react to that one."

"As you discovered when you first arrived, no one is going to believe that his real name is Arthur Pendragon." Merlin nodded. Sarah Jane next handed him a wallet. "This is for you as well." She said, "There should be enough money in it to get you through the week. Hopefully he will turn up by then and get you out of here."

Merlin accepted the wallet and hugged her again. "You have no idea how much I appreciate everything you have done for us."

Sarah Jane laughed. "It really isn't a problem Merlin. I enjoyed having the pleasure of meeting the pair of you. I have one last thing to give you before I go." She pulled away from him and reached into one of the large pockets in her jacket to pull out a small leather bound book. "This is a book of Arthurian legend. I thought you might enjoy reading it."

Merlin stepped back as though he thought the book might burn him. "I don't want to know about my future. I know more than I care to from the prophesies already."

Sarah Jane smiled. "I wouldn't worry too much about that. From what you have told me about your life, these legends are very far off what really happens to you and Arthur. I thought you might just get a laugh out of them."

Merlin accepted the book from her and turned to see Arthur standing behind him, dressed in his new clothes. "What are you two talking about?" he asked suspiciously.

Merlin didn't know how long he had been standing there so he decided to say, "It's nothing for you to worry about Arthur. Come, we had best be going."

Arthur followed Merlin and Sarah Jane down several flights of stairs (Neither of them thought Arthur was ready for the lift yet) and to a desk on the ground floor. Merlin signed a bunch of paperwork to sign Arthur out and then they walked out of the building into the bright afternoon sunshine.

"I can drive you down to a hotel if you want," Sarah Jane said to Merlin.

Merlin glanced at Arthur for a long moment before saying, "I think we had better walk. Don't worry, I remember where it is."

Sarah Jane nodded and walked away to her car. Merlin turned back to face Arthur who was turning slowly in a circle, trying to take everything in. Merlin had done the same thing when he had first arrived, but just as he had, Arthur was receiving strange looks from the other people in the hospital parking lot.

Merlin laid his hand on Arthur's shoulder to stop his rotation. He reached into his pocket, pulled out Arthur's id card, and handed it to him.

"Here, this is yours. Don't lose it."

After several moments of touching the foreign material followed by wondering at his image on the front, Arthur finally read the name on the card. His face screwed up in disbelief. "Arthur Peterson?" he asked incredulously.

"Sorry about that," Merlin said, stifling a chuckle, "it was the closest common name to Pendragon she could think of."

"Why couldn't you just use my real name?" Arthur demanded.

Merlin decided to tell him the truth. "Someday Arthur, you are going to do things that make you famous even into this time period. When we first arrived I used your real name and everyone thought I was either lying or crazy. Well, everyone except Martha."

Arthur didn't question his fame and Merlin supposed that Arthur had the same aversion to knowing the future that he himself had.

"At least you get to use your real name," Arthur said, but Merlin was already shaking his head. He pulled out his own id and held it up for Arthur to read. "Emrys Ambrosius," he read aloud. "Why on earth does it say that?"

Merlin shoved the card back into his pocket. "Merlin isn't exactly a common name in this time period."

Arthur raised an eyebrow. "And Emrys is?"

"Well no," Merlin replied, "but at least no one will recognize it or think we're lying by using your name and mine together."

"Recognize it? You're known in this time period? You're known for something we do together?" Arthur sounded completely dumbstruck.

"Yeah," was all he said in reply.

Arthur was silent for awhile while he contemplated what he and Merlin might do together so they would still be famous this far into the future. The fact that his manservant, of all the people of Camelot, was famous was also a little hard to wrap his head around.

"Why did you choose Emrys?" Arthur asked the moment the question popped into his head.

Merlin looked away, off down the street. "We had best get you something to eat," he said to avoid answering Arthur's question. He began walking, then turned back to look at Arthur who was obediently following, trusting him completely to lead the way in this strange new world. 'You should probably call me Emrys from now on," he said, trying not to cringe at the prospect of Arthur calling him by his druid name. "That last thing we need is people to realize that Arthur and Merlin are walking down the street together, no matter what your last name might be."


	3. Chapter 3

**15 alerts, 3 favorites, and 5 reviews. This is doing so much better than I had hoped. Thank you all!**

"Hello, my name is George and I will be serving you today," the waiter said.

Arthur was still staring at the menu in awe. Merlin doubted the man had even thought about what he wanted to eat yet.

"Today our special is…"

"Whatever it is, he'll have it," Merlin said.

To George's credit, he took the odd statement in stride. "And to drink?"

Arthur looked to Merlin. _Water_ he mouthed. "Water," Arthur said.

The waiter turned to Merlin. "And for you sir?"

"I'll just have a coke please," Merlin said. He had gained a taste for the fizzy beverage over the last few weeks thanks to the hospital vending machines. He was going to enjoy it until he finally got home.

The waiter walked away from the table and Arthur relaxed a bit, taking a deep breath. "The air smells strange here," he commented.

"Exhaust," Merlin said. Arthur raised an eyebrow so he elaborated, "In this time they burn things to power their machines." He pointed to the road that was close behind Arthur. "Cars are a good example but they have things called factories as well."

"Emrys," Arthur said, trying out his name, "What happened once you got here? What have you done the past three weeks?"

Arthur saw Merlin close up. It was as if a door had been slammed shut. Arthur had grown used to it but it still bothered him. He had realized long ago that his servant had many secrets, what they could possibly be though, he had no idea. Unlike most of the times this had happened however, he did receive an answer.

"We got lucky. We appeared inside UNIT headquarters. They thought we were from outer space at first," Merlin allowed himself a small smile. "When I tried to tell them who we were they laughed. That was when Martha Jones came into the room- she was the doctor you met earlier. She seemed willing to listen unlike the others so I… I proved to her I was telling the truth."

"How?" Merlin completely shut down at the apparently simple question. Arthur realized that he had no chance of getting Merlin to answer if he didn't want to, but his curiosity was far from sated. "So how did you spend these last three weeks while I was in the hospital?"

George returned with Arthur's food and the drinks. Without looking to see what it was, Arthur tucked into his food. Merlin took a sip of his sweet and bubbly beverage and said, "When I wasn't with you I spent most of my time with Sarah Jane. She tried to explain science to me and I tried to explain…" he suddenly fell silent. He had only barely caught himself before saying that word that was so taboo in Camelot, in his own time. Magic. He had grown too used to this time period where few people believed magic was real at all and those he had grown close to had known him for what he was from the start, from the legends. He thumbed the leather book in his pocket. He wanted to read it with Arthur, he was sure they would get a laugh out of it considering some of the questions Martha and Sarah Jane had asked him, however he also knew that it specifically said that he was a sorcerer and he wasn't quite ready to tell Arthur, not yet and certainly not while they were in this mess.

Arthur tried not to let Merlin's resumed silence get to him. "So I'm assuming that we're stuck here. I doubt you managed to find a way for us to get home."

Merlin smiled. "Actually someone is coming to bring us back. All we have to do is wait for him to arrive."

Arthur gave him what was probably his first genuine smile since waking up. "Emrys, you're amazing!"

Arthur couldn't have missed seeing the way Merlin flinched at the name if he had been blind. "You really don't like that name. Why?"

Merlin's gaze was firmly on the table. "It's not so much the name as the fact that you are the one using it," he muttered.

Arthur's brow furrowed. _More secrets then._ Merlin's gaze suddenly shot up as though he had heard something. His gaze locked onto something. Arthur turned to see a group of three people standing on the sidewalk just behind him. Merlin and one of the men were staring at each other as if they were each the most fascinating thing the other had ever seen. The woman's gaze was flicking from to the man to Merlin to Arthur himself. The second man seemed very confused by the whole thing. His mouth was just ever so slightly open and he looked as if he desperately wished someone would explain what was going on. Arthur felt the same way.

…

"Doctor, where are we?" Amy asked.

"London I think. Your time. At least that's where I meant to go." He was walking at a furious pace down the sidewalk and both Amy and Rory were practically jogging to keep up.

"And why are we here exactly?" Rory asked.

"I received a message."

"From who?" A cell phone had rung in the Tardis and after the initial shock he had shown at the phone ringing the Doctor had answered it and talked very rapidly and briefly with whoever had called before hanging up and immediately bringing them here with virtually no explanation at all.

"Some old friends of mine," he said distractedly. He suddenly stopped, scratched his head, turned in a circle then continued walking.

They were rushing by an outdoor café when two men sitting at a table right next to the sidewalk caught her eye. She wasn't sure why she had noticed them. A muscular blond man in a brown leather jacket was facing away from her and a slim raven haired man with piercing blue eyes wearing a long black coat was facing them and staring intently at the Doctor. Amy reached out and grabbed the Doctor by the elbow. He turned quickly and locked eyes with the dark haired man. The blond man turned to look at them, but he seemed confused as to what was going on.

The Doctor walked up to the dark haired man who stood to be at eye level with him. "You aren't meant to be here," the Doctor said.

The other man looked the Doctor up and down. "When they said that you were old and weren't completely sure what you would look like I hadn't realized they meant you were over nine hundred and in your eleventh body."

Amy jumped in surprise at the man's words but the Doctor seemed to have the opposite reaction. He broke into a wide smile and the man mirrored it with his own broad grin. The blond one just looked more confused than ever.

"I'm the Doctor," the Doctor said holding out his hand.

The man shook it. "I know. I'm Merlin."

"I know."

Amy's jaw dropped. "You can't mean the…" the man was shaking his head vigorously and shooting the blond man worried glances so she didn't finish.

"Yes, I am."

The blond man stood up and glared at Merlin. He turned to Amy. "What? What were you going to say?"

Another warning glance from Merlin told Amy she shouldn't tell this man what he wanted to know. The man turned back on Merlin again. "Merlin, what are you hiding from me?"

"Nothing, sire," Merlin said, completely straight faced.

"Fine," the man said, his expression saying that he wasn't going to let it go, "can you answer this then? Who are these people?"

"Better question," Amy said, "Who are you?"

"Arthur Pendragon," he replied.

Amy knew her jaw had dropped once again. "_King_ Arthur?" she asked incredulously.

Arthur's brow furrowed. "Prince Reagent. My father is still alive."

Merlin leaned a bit closer to Arthur. "We're in the future sire, remember?"

Arthur turned red but quickly composed himself. "You weren't joking about the fact that we're well known were you?"

"You thought I was lying?" his tone was offended but he was smiling.

"Stop being such an idiot Merlin."

"As soon as you stop being such a prat."

The Doctor's eyes were dancing with amusement and Amy had the sneaking suspicion he had met them before, even if it was their first time. "Come on, we should get back to theTardis. I am sure you don't want to be in this time any longer than necessary."

He was walking again and all of them had to do their best catch up. Merlin, with his habit of rushing around due to his perpetual tardiness was the only one who didn't look as if he was running and struggling to keep up to the Doctor's rapid pace.

They had left the Tardis in an alley and the Doctor led the way inside followed by Amy, Rory, and finally Merlin and Arthur. Merlin looked around the inside of the Tardis with awe, but not shock. He had clearly been expecting what he saw.

Arthur on the other hand immediately ran out, ran around the box and then ran right back in. "Sorcery."

The venom with which he said the word clued Amy in as to why Merlin had stopped her earlier. His flinch at Arthur's word just reinforced her suspicion. Arthur, at this point in his timeline, had no idea that Merlin was a warlock.

As with everything, the Doctor took it in stride. He was already dancing around the control console, pulling levers and pushing buttons in no discernable order. "Not sorcery. Science," he said.

Arthur calmed down a bit and looked to Merlin. "Sarah Jane told me about this. It is indeed science."

"Sarah Jane! How is she?" the Doctor asked.

"She is doing very well. She also said to tell you that K-9 is doing wonderfully and is in full working order."

"Splendid. Hold on tight!" The Tardis tilted violently before settling. "Now, let's just hope I got that right."

**I'm debating whether to make this a reveal or not. I have a plan for either scenario. Opinions?**


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry this took so long to get up but life's crazy. I'm also sorry I didn't reply to responses. I appreciate you all though! Enjoy!**

Merlin walked to the door of the Tardis and opened it to look out. No one dared even breathe. He turned to look at them. "Well, we are in Camelot." He said cheerfully.

"Very good, we will be off then," the Doctor said, already moving around the Tardis.

"Doctor, can't we at least take a look around?" Amy asked.

"Well, I guess it couldn't hurt. After all, what could go wrong?"

"Don't say that," Rory said, "Whenever you say that something terrifying and dangerous and completely ridiculous happens."

No one paid attention to him. Merlin and Arthur exited the Tardis followed closely by the Doctor, Amy, and Rory. The Tardis had landed behind a floor length curtain. There was a window right outside the door which was how Merlin had known they were indeed back in Camelot.

Merlin and Arthur walked out from behind the curtain into the main room together. Within seconds Merlin knew the Doctor had missed their destination by a few years. They were in the council room and they were looking at themselves and the knights of Camelot, all about five years older than they were in their time. The group was deep in discussion. Merlin knew that he should grab Arthur and get them both back into the Tardis before they saw something they shouldn't, but his curiosity was enormous and he hesitated. It was just for a moment but it was enough to ruin everything.

"Merlin," the older version of Arthur said, "Could you please light the fire? It's getting cold."

"No problem," the older version of Merlin answered. "Forbearne." The fire lit itself in the grate.

Arthur gasped and Merlin froze. Older Arthur looked up to see them for the first time and his eyes widened. He didn't look surprised as much as afraid. "Merlin, it's _that_ day."

Merlin and the knights looked up to see the same scene older Arthur had seen.

They leapt out of their chairs and got into position as if the whole thing had been planned in advance, which it probably had. Older Merlin grabbed Merlin and pulled him against the wall. Older Arthur spun Arthur around to face him and placed a hand on the hilt of his sword, ready to draw it at any moment. The knights, Merlin could see now that they were Leon, Percival, Gwaine, Elyan, and Lancelot; stood with their swords drawn between Merlin and Arthur.

"Oh no, I've caused you to cross your own time line. That's not good. That's not good at all," the Doctor said.

Arthur turned away from himself and tried to storm past the knights to get at Merlin, but the older version of himself stopped him. "Think about what you are about to do for a few minutes and you will realize it is a mistake."

"But he has magic. Merlin has magic. He has been lying to me this entire time." His voice was desperate.

"He only lied because telling you the truth would mean his death," the older Arthur insisted. "He has saved your life more times than you could possibly realize."

Arthur seemed to stop and consider for a moment before relaxing and shooting Merlin an apologetic glance.

Older Merlin chuckled. "He took that a lot better than you did Arthur." He glanced down at Merlin. "He held a sword to my throat when this happened in my timeline."

Merlin's brow furrowed. "That shouldn't be possible, should it?" he asked the Doctor. "I know that history can change but for us to fall into this timeline there should be no change, correct?"

Amy was impressed by Merlin's understanding of time and she too looked at the Doctor. The timelord just shrugged his shoulders. "It's a paradox. Anything is possible. I'm just happy the whole of Camelot isn't blowing up… or imploding…or exploding and imploding at the exact same moment leaving everything the way it was. Actually that last one might have happened." He ran to the window. "Fascinating." He spoke to Amy. "All things considered I actually got pretty close to our target."

"You created a paradox by causing them to cross their own timelines," Rory said, entirely exasperated by what was going on."

"Yes, but I got the location correct and managed to land us within their lifetimes. I consider that quite close. There was one time I landed thirty thousand years late and several galaxies over. I had been aiming for London and wound up finding the doorway between our universe and the one made of antimatter. Compared to that this is spectacular"

Rory was, as ever, unwilling to argue with the doctor as it was inevitable he would ultimately lose while not being sure how he had or what the Doctor was blathering on about.

"So, have we had our other little adventure yet?" The Doctor asked older Merlin and Arthur.

"Yes, about two years ago in our time." Merlin said.

"Brilliant," he said, "Well, I'm afraid we had best be on our way. I don't want to force the Tardis to maintain a paradox for too long."

"No," older Merlin said forcefully, "We are going to need you here, all of you, for what is coming."

"In fact," older Arthur said, looking out the window, "I think we should be running to the lower town right about now."

Older Arthur, Merlin, and the knights set off running and after a moment of hesitation where many long glances were shared, the five who were out of their own time followed.

Arthur soon fell into step beside Merlin. "So you have magic." It wasn't a question. There was no way to deny what had happened or the reactions of their older selves.

"Yes," Merlin responded, waiting to see where this would go. They rounded a corner and found themselves outside. There wasn't a door there in their own time. Merlin glanced behind him. There was a hole blasted in the wall- that was what they had run through.

"Why?" Arthur asked.

"Why what?" Merlin asked, confused.

"Why did you learn magic?" Arthur elaborated.

Merlin averted his eyes. "I didn't learn it, not the way most people do anyway. I have been able to use magic since before I could talk." His eyes were hard, defensive, as he met Arthur's gaze. He looked as if he was expecting a blow and preparing himself for the pain. "I didn't exactly have a choice in the matter."

Arthur felt bad about being angry earlier. Merlin couldn't help what he was. His very breath was illegal and even more than that he had for all these years been completely loyal to him. He wasn't the same as the other sorcerers they had fought over the years, that much was certain, but…"I didn't know that was possible."

Merlin allowed himself a small smile. "Let's just say I'm unique." They turned another corner. They were in the lower town heading down the narrow streets towards the gate.

"Why is it that when the Doctor gets involved, people always end up running?" Rory complained.

Older Merlin laughed. "This happens to us all the time."

"Usually because Merlin does something stupid," older Arthur called back.

"I keep telling you that the explosions weren't my fault!"

"Oh? Then who did it?"

"Well I did, but the spell didn't do what it was supposed to."

Arthur and Merlin were both staring with eyes wide. Both of them found it hard to believe that Arthur could ever be so casual about magic.

Older Arthur and Merlin stopped so everyone else followed suit. "Morgana has been quiet for years, ever since I legalized magic. This is the day that all ends," Arthur said. He drew his sword. "We have a minute or two until the attack begins. Merlin, I want both of you ready."

"Ready for what?" younger Merlin asked.

"Don't worry, you'll know what to do when it comes," the older version of himself told him, grinning knowingly.

Merlin looked to Arthur again and Arthur could tell he was still scared of using magic in front of him. Arthur laid a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Don't worry about me Merlin. Just do whatever you need to."  
>Merlin nodded, appearing relieved.<p>

"Why is no one reacting to the fact that there are two Arthurs and Merlins?" Amy asked, looking around at all the people who were casually walking around them.

Merlin and Arthur looked around as well. It hadn't occurred to them, but it indeed was weird. Older Arthur smirked and said, "They have grown too used to oddities to react any more. I think after the female incident nothing will get them riled up any more."

"Female incident?" Merlin asked. Older Merlin bent down and whispered something in his ear. He looked immediately horrified. "I did what!" he shouted. "Sorry," he said to the knights and older Arthur.

"Don't be," Gwaine said. "You didn't do it, not yet at least."

"Wow, that was actually fairly insightful," Percival said.

"Are you saying I can't be insightful?" Gwaine demanded angrily.

Whatever fight that might have broken out was put on hold by a fireball streaking over the wall directly towards them. Merlin yelped and his magic rose without a spell. The ball of fire went flying back over to wherever it had originated.

Arthur stared at Merlin. He hadn't said a spell! Everyone else just kept going as though nothing was out of the ordinary. He would have to worry about it later.

"Doctor, have you fixed the sonic screwdriver's issue with wood?" older Merlin asked.

"Well, I was working on it…"

"Good," he interrupted. He grabbed the Doctor's arm and the pair of them disappeared in a vortex of wind.

…

Outside of Camelot the Doctor tried to shake off his minor disorientation from teleporting. It always reminded him of River's or Jack's mode of time travel. They were standing among a bunch of primitive war machines. Where Morgana had gotten catapults he did not know but he did know why Merlin had brought him out here. That much was made obvious by his question about the sonic's new wood setting. Amy was pretty close to right in her explanation of how the sonic screwdriver worked. So he pointed and thought and hoped that his adjustments to make it work on wood worked. It did and the catapults fell apart around them one by one. Unfortunately that attracted quite a bit of attention and the next thing he knew mercenaries were running at them. Merlin grabbed his arm again and brought them back to the others.

…

Older Merlin had vanished with the Doctor, leaving everyone else to prepare for the next attack. Older Arthur came over to tell Arthur and Merlin what they were to do.

"Merlin, when he gets back I want you to work with your older self. Morgana may not be as powerful as you, but she is the closest anyone has ever come and more than that she is utterly ruthless, which can make all the difference."

Arthur gaped, "You're more powerful than Morgana five years from now…or our time…or I mean…"

Everyone gave him withering looks. "Arthur, I want you to shut up and keep your comments to yourself. You will find out everything in time," older Arthur said. Arthur looked shocked at being told to shut up by himself but true to orders he didn't speak. "You are going to cover my back." Older Arthur smiled. "This is going to be fun actually. You're always telling me that no matter how hard I try I can't be in two places at once, and now I can be," he told Merlin. Merlin raised an eyebrow. He didn't think that he had ever told Arthur that. "Well, I guess it's not you who tells me that, it's actually my Merlin, but you will tell me that, or maybe you'll tell your Arthur that."

"Oi!" Amy said. "Arthurs! Stop trying to figure out time and focus on what's going on."

Both Arthurs looked sufficiently bashful and Merlin couldn't help but smile to himself. The only people he had ever known who could make Arthur turn that red were Gwen and Morgana before she had betrayed them. Maybe they needed a few more women around the castle who weren't afraid to give Arthur a piece of their mind.

"Anyway," Amy said, "What can we do to help?"

"You can stay right next to me and keep me company," Gwaine said, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Don't you even think about it," Rory said, moving himself between Amy and Gwaine.

"It's a bit late for that," Gwaine said smiling evilly.

The pair began hurling insults and threats back and forth. Percival and Amy shouted for them to stop but to no avail. Finally Merlin, who had at first been amused, got tired of their argument and both of them fell silent, though their mouths continued to move for a few seconds before they realized no sound was coming out and grabbed their throats in surprise.

"Thank you," older Arthur said. "Rory, catch." He threw the man a sword and Rory caught and twirled it expertly. "I should hope the centurion can still handle a sword?"

Rory, still unable to speak, nodded in reply.

"And as for you Amy, you have the most important job of all," older Arthur continued, "You have to make sure the Doctor and both Merlins don't do anything stupid. At least until River shows up, than you only have to worry about Merlin, or well both of them, and trust me- one of them alone can be a handful."

Older Merlin and the Doctor chose that moment to reappear. "The catapults have been taken care of," Merlin reported.

"Great, than we just have…"

A second wind rose up around them and Morgana appeared behind younger Arthur. She grabbed him quickly and disappeared again.

There hadn't been enough time for Merlin to react before she took him and he made as if to follow her but his older self grabbed his arm before he could. "If our timelines worked out similarly, you don't know how to teleport. If you try to go after her you'll likely kill yourself."

Merlin calmed down quickly. "Okay, then how do we get him back? How did you do it?"

Older Merlin bit his lower lip. "I don't know Merlin. This never happened in my timeline. We'll have to come up with a plan."


End file.
